Rock art provides new evidence on the biogeography of kudu (Tragelaphus imberbis), wild dromedary, aurochs (Bos primigenius) and African wild ass (Equus africanus) in the early and middle Holocene of north-western Arabia
Rock art provides new evidence on the biogeography of kudu (Tragelaphus imberbis), wild dromedary, aurochs (Bos primigenius) and African wild ass (Equus africanus) in the early and middle Holocene of north-western Arabia
Aim: our knowledge of the prehistoric distribution of animal species is so far largely dependent on the location of excavated archaeological and palaeontological sites. In the absence of excavated faunal remains, many species that were present in the Levant and North Africa have been assumed to have been absent on the Arabian Peninsula. Here, we explore representations of four species that were identifiable in the rock art, but had not previously been reported in north-western Arabia.
Location: Jubbah and Shuwaymis UNESCO world heritage rock art sites in Ha'il province, north-western Saudi Arabia.
Methods: in total, the rock art panels surveyed and recorded in Jubbah and Shuwaymis contain 6,618 individual animal depictions. Species were identified based on diagnostic features of the anatomy. The resulting dataset was then compared to the faunal spectrum reported in the (archaeo)zoological literature.
Results: the rock art dataset provides evidence that the distributions of lesser kudu (Tragelaphus imberbis), wild camel and African wild ass (Equus africanus) extended into the north-west of Arabia and that the engravers may have had knowledge of aurochs (Bos primigenius).
Main conclusions: the presence of previously undocumented mammal species in Arabia provides new information regarding their distribution, as well as the types of habitat and vegetation that were available in prehistoric landscapes. Moreover, the presence of kudu on the Arabian Peninsula indicates that the identification of palaeo-distributions based exclusively on faunal remains may miss key species in the Afro-Eurasian faunal exchange.
727-740
Guagnin, Maria
647923fe-deba-41bb-a74b-d6c464b06231
Shipton, Ceri
97c2b0d7-74c6-4f8d-a706-ff318728e8df
el-Dossary, Sarah
df9f7c81-1999-47e3-847e-5eff966fe0da
al-Rashid, Moudhy
cd329e9a-a78a-41be-945d-47e4c00b7c82
Moussa, Farès
20ec5374-f757-4d76-a194-f7931d0c93b2
Stewart, Mathew
186a04a3-60ef-4d5b-8ddb-fe764938ae47
Ott, Florian
b9004ce7-11fc-4a25-ad54-3f62f8f4a671
Alsharekh, Abdullah
660f9fef-1662-4c71-bb00-6dd0e86a8805
Petraglia, Michael D.
7a5cdc34-e73e-4b3f-bde5-aa34b83f5f31
30 March 2018
Guagnin, Maria
647923fe-deba-41bb-a74b-d6c464b06231
Shipton, Ceri
97c2b0d7-74c6-4f8d-a706-ff318728e8df
el-Dossary, Sarah
df9f7c81-1999-47e3-847e-5eff966fe0da
al-Rashid, Moudhy
cd329e9a-a78a-41be-945d-47e4c00b7c82
Moussa, Farès
20ec5374-f757-4d76-a194-f7931d0c93b2
Stewart, Mathew
186a04a3-60ef-4d5b-8ddb-fe764938ae47
Ott, Florian
b9004ce7-11fc-4a25-ad54-3f62f8f4a671
Alsharekh, Abdullah
660f9fef-1662-4c71-bb00-6dd0e86a8805
Petraglia, Michael D.
7a5cdc34-e73e-4b3f-bde5-aa34b83f5f31
Guagnin, Maria, Shipton, Ceri, el-Dossary, Sarah, al-Rashid, Moudhy, Moussa, Farès, Stewart, Mathew, Ott, Florian, Alsharekh, Abdullah and Petraglia, Michael D.
(2018)
Rock art provides new evidence on the biogeography of kudu (Tragelaphus imberbis), wild dromedary, aurochs (Bos primigenius) and African wild ass (Equus africanus) in the early and middle Holocene of north-western Arabia.
Journal of Biogeography, 45 (4), .
(doi:10.1111/jbi.13165).
Abstract
Aim: our knowledge of the prehistoric distribution of animal species is so far largely dependent on the location of excavated archaeological and palaeontological sites. In the absence of excavated faunal remains, many species that were present in the Levant and North Africa have been assumed to have been absent on the Arabian Peninsula. Here, we explore representations of four species that were identifiable in the rock art, but had not previously been reported in north-western Arabia.
Location: Jubbah and Shuwaymis UNESCO world heritage rock art sites in Ha'il province, north-western Saudi Arabia.
Methods: in total, the rock art panels surveyed and recorded in Jubbah and Shuwaymis contain 6,618 individual animal depictions. Species were identified based on diagnostic features of the anatomy. The resulting dataset was then compared to the faunal spectrum reported in the (archaeo)zoological literature.
Results: the rock art dataset provides evidence that the distributions of lesser kudu (Tragelaphus imberbis), wild camel and African wild ass (Equus africanus) extended into the north-west of Arabia and that the engravers may have had knowledge of aurochs (Bos primigenius).
Main conclusions: the presence of previously undocumented mammal species in Arabia provides new information regarding their distribution, as well as the types of habitat and vegetation that were available in prehistoric landscapes. Moreover, the presence of kudu on the Arabian Peninsula indicates that the identification of palaeo-distributions based exclusively on faunal remains may miss key species in the Afro-Eurasian faunal exchange.
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e-pub ahead of print date: 14 January 2018
Published date: 30 March 2018
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Local EPrints ID: 483445
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/483445
ISSN: 0305-0270
PURE UUID: 4ec9ebfe-3df7-4b07-a1f9-58b050bf47e8
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Date deposited: 31 Oct 2023 17:33
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 04:00
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Author:
Maria Guagnin
Author:
Ceri Shipton
Author:
Sarah el-Dossary
Author:
Moudhy al-Rashid
Author:
Farès Moussa
Author:
Mathew Stewart
Author:
Florian Ott
Author:
Abdullah Alsharekh
Author:
Michael D. Petraglia
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